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We are biased, we know: but we can’t help but say that the conference was really fantastic. An incredible turnout; fabulous papers; and nearly $20,000 raised for the Mary Beth Norton Undergraduate Research Fund (thanks to MB’s decision to match the nearly $7000 we’d raised by the time of the conference and the equally generous matching contribution by a former undergraduate of hers.) We are so grateful to the many brilliant, kind, interesting people who gathered together to honor the one and only MBN, and to those who followed the conference from near and far. The celebration concluded with wonderful tributes to the great lady: a standing ovation from the assembled attendees at the conclusion of MB’s closing remarks, and Serena Zabin’s (and Chris Brunelle’s) marvelous limerick:

Women’s history makes no apology

For the Mary Beth Norton anthology.

For the works of this sage

Are for every age:

The public, the grads, and the college-y.

When we needed direction, we sought hers,

And she’s rendered us Liberty’s Daughters

Now we all are a-swim in

The study of women,

it’s she who has charted these waters.

Cliometrics can’t count all the years

That she’s molded our minds and careers

But one number reveals

how each of us feels

For Mary Beth Norton, three cheers

Stay tuned for pictures! And again, our heartfelt thanks to you all for your support.

At last, the conference has arrived! We’re looking forward to seeing everyone soon.

For those of you arriving in town on Thursday Sept. 27, please come join us for an informal gathering at the wine and tapas bar Corks & More (http://www.corksandmore.com/index.php) that evening. We will be there along with Mary Beth beginning at 6pm. We’ll probably wrap up on the early side given Friday’s early start.

Corks & More is located at 708 West Buffalo Street on the Waterfront in Ithaca. Their phone number is (607) 319-4172 in case you need to call for directions.

The conference poster! Many thanks to Carla DeMello at Cornell for her fabulous design work.

Hello everyone! With just over a month before the conference begins, we wanted to provide you with a few extra bits of information in anticipation of your travels to Ithaca.

Registration: There is no formal registration for this event. If you have written to either Molly or Susanah to let them know you are planning to attend, that is all you needed to do. (However, if you have *not* yet informed the organizers of your plans to join the party, please do so in order to ensure an accurate head count for meals.) On Friday September 28th, the first day of the conference, you will be greeted at the A.D. White House by conference staff and provided with a name tag, a campus map, and other relevant items.

Parking and travel around Ithaca: Most people are staying at hotels that offer free shuttles to the Cornell campus, and we recommend that you take advantage of this service to arrange transportation to and from the conference venues (the A.D. White House and the Johnson Museum of Art, where Friday’s reception will be held. Both buildings are on Cornell’s campus and within walking distance of each other.) There is very limited parking available at both buildings, for which you need a permit. If you have mobility issues, please write to Molly (warsh@pitt.edu) or Susanah (ssromney@gmail.com) and we will see what we can do to help.

You can also take the bus from downtown Ithaca to the Cornell campus. Route 10 takes riders from downtown up to campus, and passes directly by the A.D. White House (which sits atop a small hill that you will need to climb) and the Johnson Museum of Art. A map of the bus route can be viewed here: http://www.tcatbus.com/pages/system

Again, please do not hesitate to contact Molly (warsh@pitt.edu) or Susanah (ssromney@gmail.com) if you have any questions or doubts. We will continue to keep the blog updated with relevant information as the conference approaches, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

We are very happy to share with you the program for September’s conference:

Liberty’s Daughters and Sons:

Celebrating the Legacy of Mary Beth Norton

The tremendous enthusiasm for Mary Beth generated an extraordinary array of paper proposals, and we’ve been able to put together what we humbly think is a fantastic schedule of panels involving scholars from all over the country.

Lodging in Ithaca: for those of you who have yet to reserve a hotel for the conference weekend, we have booked a block of 15 rooms (single or double occupancy) at the Best Western East Hill Plaza. The conference rate is $149 a night, but you must book by late August. To make a reservation, call the hotel directly at 607-272-6100 and mention the “Mary Beth Norton conference” in order to get the room rate of $149 per night. The block of rooms expires on August 27th, one month before the event. The Best Western East Hill Plaza offers (among other amenities) a free on-demand shuttle that will pick guests up at the airport and arrange for their transportation around town.

We anticipate the block of rooms going quickly, so don’t delay! Another option for finding a hotel in Ithaca is the “lodging” search provide by the VisitIthaca website.

We are thrilled to begin 2012 with some very exciting news: with the help of the Cornell History Department and the Office of Alumni Affairs, we’ve established an undergraduate scholarship fund in honor of Mary Beth.

Titled “The Mary Beth Norton Undergraduate Research Fund,” the scholarship will be granted once a year to a deserving undergraduate history major conducting research. We created the fund with the intention of honoring Mary Beth’s extraordinary commitment to undergraduate teaching and mentoring.

The scholarship will be funded entirely through donations, and we are hoping that many of you will help us establish this important tribute to Mary Beth.

Be sure to write “The Mary Beth Norton Undergraduate Research Award in History, fund #0008435” in the box labelled “Other designation or special instructions.” You can also click the “In honor of” box and write in Mary Beth’s name, but this is not absolutely necessary because Cornell will assume that all gifts made to this fund will be in her honor.

If you prefer to send a check, please make it out to “The Mary Beth Norton Undergraduate Research Award in History,” fund #0008435. You can send your contributution to

HOTELS
For those of you coming into town from elsewhere for the big event, we recommend the following three hotels.

The William Henry Miller Inn
This hotel is a bit pricy (around $195 per night), but it was so highly recommended to us by experienced conference organizers at Cornell that both Susanah and I will be staying there. Breakfast is apparently fantastic and included in the price of the room, and there is a decadent dessert buffet in the evenings that is also part of the package. The owners seem like lovely people, and the location is great with a bus stop for the campus-bound #10 around the corner.
If you’re interested in staying here, book soon! They’ve only got 9 rooms and co-owner Lynette says that they fill up fast, so don’t delay. Their phone number is 607.256.4553, and they’re waiting to hear from you.

THE INN ON COLUMBIA
Our Cornell insiders also recommend the Inn on Columbia. Their rooms regularly start at $175, so they are only slightly cheaper the Miller Inn. They are located just minutes from The Commons, Ithaca’s downtown shopping area, so if you want easy access to some window shopping and people-watching this might be a good bet. Their phone number is 607.272.0204.

HILTON GARDEN INN
The third hotel recommendation from our trusted source was the Hilton Garden Inn. The prices seem to be roughly comparable to the two smaller hotels above (starting around $169 per night), and it is also located very close to downtown Ithaca. Their phone number is 607.277.8900.

If none of these options sound like what you’re looking for, there are plenty of other hotels and inns in and around Ithaca to choose from. Travelocity, Kayak, and Hotwire are my go-to sites when I want to find a good deal, and I’m sure there are many more out there.

TRANSPORTATION IN ITHACA
There is no need to rent a car when you arrive, unless you plan on doing some out-of-town exploring or staying far from downtown Ithaca. The airport is only 4 miles from the city, and you can catch a cab or a bus to your hotel without great expense. The Cornell University transportation website provides plenty of helpful information: http://www.cornell.edu/visiting/ithaca/directions_air.cfm

Catching a bus up to campus from downtown Ithaca won’t be a problem (there are many shuttles, or you can brave the steep hill and walk up!), or you can catch a ride with someone who has a vehicle.

We hope you will be able to join us for a conference in honor of the one and only Mary Beth Norton, to be held at the A.D. White House on Cornell’s beautiful campus on Friday, September 28th and Saturday, September 29th, 2012.

On Friday, September 28th, participants will gather at the A.D. White House for a series of sessions inspired by distinct aspects of Professor Norton’s scholarship and teaching. That evening, attendees will continue the celebration at a catered reception at the Johnson Art Museum. The conference will conclude with a morning roundtable and brunch on Saturday, September 29th. If you are interested in contributing a brief paper to one of the sessions, please email Molly at mwarsh@tamu.edu or Susanah at ssromney@gmail.com.

The conference is being organized by two of Professor Norton’s former students (and now historians), Susanah Shaw Romney, PhD ’00, and Molly Warsh, BA’99. The event has received generous support from Cornell’s History Department; Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Society for the Humanities; and numerous other on-campus and off-campus entities.

We are still working out the details and will use this site to keep you posted as more information becomes available.